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1. Case study: are Internet directory submissions still a good SEO method?

Most webmasters know that high rankings on Google and other modern search engines can only be achieved if a website has both optimized web page content and good inbound links.

While it is relatively easy to optimize the content of a website, it is more difficult to get good inbound links. A relatively easy way to get inbound links is to submit websites to Internet directories.

But do these Internet directory links still have value when it comes to search engine rankings? Can you increase the position of your website in Google's search results by submitting your site to Internet directories?

A case study

An internet marketer tested three pages that were orphaned within the normal navigation structure of the website. These three pages were created to provide valuable content to search engines.

The three pages were submitted to some high quality paid directories (Yahoo, BestOfTheWeb, Joe Ant) and free directories.

About 45 days after the paid directory links went live, the web pages had increased visibility on search engines. Visits and conversions also increased and the tracking of the marketer indicated that at least 50 percent of the results could be attributed to the directory links.

The final results that were attributed to the directory link building included:

a lift of traffic to levels that other highly visible site pages receive within 90 days

an increase in monthly conversions for the business line of 45 percent year-over-year

What does this mean for your website?

Getting links from Internet directories should be a fundamental part of any search engine optimization strategy. You should submit your website to all big Internet directories and to Internet directories that cover your niche.

IBP's directory submitter can help you to submit your website as efficiently as possible to all important directories.

Links from Internet directories are only one way to get links from other sites. If you want to outperform your competitors, you also need links from websites that are related to yours. Links from blogs will also help. IBP will help you to get these links.

Don't forget to optimize your website content before building links. The better your website content has been prepared for search engines, the better the links to your website will work.

"comScore found that for the combined Yahoo-Microsoft, 'searcher penetration,' or the percentage of the online population in the United States that uses one of those search engines, is 73 percent. Google’s searcher penetration is higher, but not by that much: at 84 percent."

"Varian, currently on leave from the University of California at Berkeley to serve as Google's chief economist, thinks a lot of the arguments advanced by Microsoft in justifying its 10-year deal for Yahoo search are, in a word, 'bogus.'"

"We're also introducing a forecasting feature for some queries based on an extrapolation of the historical trends and search patterns. And to help you visualize these changes and trends, we've also added an animated map so you can watch how search interest changes over time in different locations."

"As it invites the world to play in a mysterious sandbox it likes to call 'Caffeine,' Google is testing more than just a 'next-generation' search infrastructure. It's testing at least a portion of a revamped software architecture that will likely underpin all of its online applications for years to come. [...]

In addition to the unique keyword database of KeywordIndex.com, IBP 11.5 now also supports the keyword tools of Google AdWords. That means that you can now get the number of searches for keywords in many languages, including English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and more. Click here to get IBP 11.5.

Traffic numbers are up 300% and we spend less on advertising. We will continue to use IBP to improve rankings. It is user friendly and more importantly gets results."Terry van Dijk, Managing Director i-Law l Find a Lawyer

"Money well spent."

"Just to let you know I invested in Axandra 4 years ago and today I can say that SEO forms 80% of the income of my Internet business. Axandra put Porto Imagem Internet Solutions on the map with clients on 5 continents. Money well spent for the best SEO software with virtually immediate results"Wim Botha, www.optix.co.za

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